AEGiS-UPI: Illinois to track HIV infections by name

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Illinois to track HIV infections by name

United Press International - December 27, 2005

CHICAGO - Starting in January, Illinois will track HIV-infected people who go to a doctor or hospital for care by name rather than anonymous codes, a report said.

While people still will be able to get tested for HIV anonymously, doctors and hospitals must report names of HIV-infected people who seek treatment to local health officials.

AIDS activists said they are resigned to the change since millions of dollars in federal funds are at stake. The funds are based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which counts only HIV cases reported by individual name.

Without the change, "We'll look like we have no recorded cases of HIV diagnosed in Illinois because they won't accept our data, when we've actually collected more than 14,000 case reports since 1999," David Munar of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago told the Chicago Tribune.

State public health officials said names of HIV-infect people would remain confidential as do people with AIDS, who already are tracked by name.

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